Automatic air quality monitoring takes place in both urban and rural locations across the UK. There are around 112 automatic sites in operation in the UK which measure a wide range of pollutants including:-

• Ozone
• Nitrogen Oxides
• Carbon Monoxide
• Sulphur Dioxide
• Particulate Matter
• Hydrocarbons

Sunderland City Council has an automatic air quality site in John Street, this was set up in 1992 and collects air quality data for sulphur dioxide. The site is an urban background site, located 17 metres from any kerbside and 3 metres above ground level, the surrounding area is generally built up street canyons containing businesses and retail outlets.

At John Street an analyser continuously samples the air and measures the concentration of sulphur dioxide, this data is then collected by a data logger, which is downloaded every hour by  DEFRA. The air quality data from John Street is available from the  UK National Air Quality Information Archive and is also used to provide daily air pollution forecasts for Teletext, Ceefax, radio and television weather forecasts and newspapers.

There is also a second automatic monitoring station situated on the Silksworth Sports Complex and this station has also been adopted into the AURN network for the pollutants nitrogen oxide and ozone.  Data for this station can be found at  UK National Air Quality Information Archive 

If you have any questions about air quality in Sunderland please contact us by email or telephone (0191) 553 1661.

Other sites you may find of interest include:-

Air Quality Archive